If nothing else, Walter Ventosilla's adaptation and direction of Oedipus reflects extraordinary ambition. This is an interpretation designed not to deconstruct the Sophocles classic, but to re-imagine its meaning through a single actress. Emely Grisanty is Oedipus. She is also Creon, Jocasta, Tiresias, and several other characters essential to move the story. The ambition of such an endeavor is exciting; it seems that such a shifting of personas must explore new dimensions in the basic issues of humanity itself so crucial to Sophocles. When one mortal is all mortals, in other words, the Sophoclean emphasis on the folly of man in defying fate gets extra voltage.

Grisanty does indeed invest this Herculean task with the momentum and energy demanded. Her sheer physicality is impressive; with only a jump to her knees and a flip of a red cape, she morphs from a Theban king to a somewhat sneering prophet. Her moments as Jocasta are gripping, too. Is this because it is the only female role taken on by this actress during the play? Maybe, but it's more likely that Jocasta's final moments are arguably the most riveting in any Oedipus. With the possible exceptions of Gertrude and Medea, this is a mother to upstage all stage mothers, and Grisanty seems to grab onto this power.  It is then all the more unfortunate that Ventosilla's adaptation suffers from too literal an approach. He turns Oedipus into story theater, loses nuance in the process, and reduces Grisanty's potential by forcing her to narrate, when so much more could be explored.